Well, owl be: Bird rode three hours in car’s grill
SOUTHERN SHORES, N.C. — An owl is recovering after crashing into a car grill and riding for three hours to the Outer Banks.
“Nothing’s broken,” said Lou Browning, founder and president of Hatteras Island Wildlife Rehabilitation. “Just bruising.”
A family was traveling north to Southern Shores when they thought they heard something strike the car on U.S. 17 around Jacksonville, North Carolina, Browning said. They kept going when nothing appeared out of the ordinary.
They found the owl stuck behind the front grill of their Subaru when they arrived in Southern Shores about three hours later. Browning got a call.
This is a lucky owl, Browning said. Evidently, he broke through the grill and was held in place without getting seriously hurt.
It was a barred owl, one of three species seen regularly in eastern North Carolina, Browning said. The other two are great-horned owls and screech owls. Other species such as barn owls are seen occasionally.
Barred owls can be 20 inches long with a wingspan of more than 3 feet.
Browning receives about 70 to 100 raptors a year with injuries, mostly from car strikes. Owls are particularly vulnerable in winter, he said. More people are driving at dawn and dusk during the short days of winter when owls are active, he said.
Typically, the birds come in with broken wings and legs and serious injuries to their large eyes.
But this owl survived his crash well. Browning expects to release him soon.